Metal Underground.com

German thrash metal legends Kreator have been on somewhat of a roll since 2001's "Violent Revolution" album, which saw them return to their thrash metal roots. The band has established themselves once again as one of the best thrash metal bands going today, and followed "Violent Revolution" with another spectacular album, 2005's "Enemy Of God." Their latest record, "Hordes Of Chaos," picks up where they left off and will please the majority of thrash metal fans.

The album opens with the title track and first single, "Hordes Of Chaos." The song gives an interesting opening melody which is soon left in favor of full on thrash metal, which is almost a shame because the opening riff is very enjoyable and creates a good atmosphere. Once the opening melody is passed, Kreator rushes full speed into familiar territory, playing the unique blend of thrash metal for which the band is known. Mille's vocals are still in top shape on this song, and the whole album, and he proceeds to spit the lyrics out as rapidly as possible. The song gives a nice shout along chorus, but overall doesn't offer much in the way of anything new. That said, if you just love thrash metal that's fast and vicious, you won't have a problem with it.

Unfortunately, a lot of the album seems to follow that theory. The songs are good, but lack the stand out factor that songs on "Enemy of God" had. For the most part, there weren't many points really worth noting in most of the songs. "Escalation" had an interesting vocal delivery in the verses which almost sounded like Mille was attempting to rap; however, the chorus was a bit of a let down. "Amok Run" has a nice, almost mellow opening and some good melodies later on, but again, suffers from a pretty weak chorus.

"Radical Resistance" is perhaps the best song on the album for a reason I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps it's because it is one of the few songs on the album where I really enjoyed the chorus, or possibly because it's a fluid song that doesn't play around too much.

"Corpses Of Liberty" would have been interesting to hear as a full song, rather than a fifty five second interlude, because it encompasses the melodic elements that made "Voices Of The Dead" such a great song on the "Enemy Of God" album.

The album's final track, "Demon Prince," is the almost disappointing. Like the majority of the album, it isn't bad, and has an interesting opening that is reminiscent of Iron Maiden, but like the title track, that idea seems to be discarded after a short while in favor of fast and furious thrash metal.

It might sound like I'm being too hard on "Hordes Of Chaos," but that isn't my intention. It's definitely a good album, and worth picking up if straight forward thrash metal is your thing. But it doesn't stand up well to the last two albums, and in many cases sounds a little uninspired and dry. The songs definitely sound like they will do better in a live environment than in the studio, and I'm sure some of these songs will go down a storm at concerts. All in all, it's a thrash metal album, and fans who don't want the band to lose that side of themselves will be happy the band hasn't experimented with their sound too much, like they infamously did in the nineties.